In the early days, when the Towers of Heroes and the Abyss of Demons first appeared, barriers were mainly considered as highly defensive techniques. Back then, not only did they require a long casting time but a lot had to be prepped in advance for them to be effective. Hence, unless it was an assault on an enemy’s headquarters, there was no particular need to prepare barrier counters. 2

But then, when humanity was hunting down the Vermillion Bird during the Four Sacred Beast subjugation mission, that common knowledge was shattered into pieces.0

“Screech!”0

To kill the endlessly regenerating Vermillion Bird once and for all, the heroes had to completely pull out its heart. But the moment the heroes got close to succeeding, the Vermillion Bird activated Vermillion Sky, a barrier-type skill, as a final act of desperation and enveloped the entire subjugation team. 0

The activation time only took ten seconds. Yet merely the activation of the skill in those ten seconds had turned the B-rank heroes who were supporting from the backline into charred remains and made nearly all of the A-rank heroes suffer permanent memory loss and mental disorders. If the S-rank heroes hadn’t pulled out the bird’s heart and killed it, the losses wouldn’t have ended there; the consequences could have been unimaginable.0

So from then on, a sense of vigilance and fear toward barriers rooted itself in every hero.0

Whoosh!0

And now that very same barrier, which had managed to change the perception of barriers as a whole, had begun to cage Borsippa. Seeing the sky dyed crimson, people became horrified. The effects of the skill had begun to manifest throughout the entire area.0

Crackle! Boom!0

“What, what’s this?”0

“What the hell is happening…!”0

Without any signs, countless facilities and pieces of equipment in Borsippa began malfunctioning and twisting before exploding all at once. Luckily there were professors and heroes on site that...2